Geek protects his privacy with robotic curtain

Give a geek enough time and a number of gadgets and they’ll create something. Whether it’s useful or not depends on your point of view, but the pleasure comes from the creating even if the end result is fairly pointless.

The robotic curtain is a case in point. While the end result may raise a few smiles from passers-by, it is ultimately pretty useless. But getting to play with a surveillance camera, computer vision software, and a motorized curtain rail is a project most geeks would happily indulge themselves in.

The creator is Niklas Roy, self-confessed inventor of useless things. His workshop is in an old storefront with a window facing the street. Privacy is easily achieved by putting up a curtain, but Niklas decided on a smart curtain solution using some old tech he had lying around.

Although the curtain does cover the view of a person looking in, it does not help with privacy as the smart nature of the tiny veil attracts more people than would otherwise have looked into his workshop.